COW and volume management? [LWN.net]

COW and volume management?

Posted Jan 28, 2026 23:31 UTC (Wed) by neggles (subscriber, #153254)
In reply to: COW and volume management? by koverstreet
Parent article: Filesystem medley: EROFS, NTFS, and XFS

It's really nice to see you sticking to saying positive things about bcachefs, rather than being negative about other filesystems; seems like you're much happier these days :)

to post comments

COW and volume management?

Posted Jan 29, 2026 1:20 UTC (Thu) by koverstreet (subscriber, #4296) [Link] (2 responses)

Engineering isn't a "good vibes only" club. We have to be able to talk about and understand past mistakes if we want to improve and do better, and sometimes the "what not to do" are really important lessons.

So I can and do talk about that stuff when it's relevant, and no doubt will again.

If you want to avoid the tensions and the drama, the way for that to happen is for everyone to be taking responsibility for their work and responding to the challenges that are arising, because we all depend on each other.

COW and volume management?

Posted Jan 29, 2026 15:30 UTC (Thu) by neggles (subscriber, #153254) [Link] (1 responses)

I completely agree; maybe I should've said "being unnecessarily negative", my bad.

COW and volume management?

Posted Jan 29, 2026 16:08 UTC (Thu) by koverstreet (subscriber, #4296) [Link]

That can be hard one to categorize :) Some people may think everything is fine, and maybe they're right, maybe they're not - and it may not be clear until it's too late.

But I do not think you can look at the kernel community's track record on filesystems and call it a smashing success. There are lessons I think the community has yet to learn. When you see me talking harshly about those things, it's not because I'm trying to be negative or tear the place down - but sometimes people do need tough love.

That thing that makes me happy is just when I see that people are learning, or at least willing to learn. All problems are solvable - in engineering, and programming especially - as long as we're facing up to them.

But yeah, I am happier since the split, and watching the bcachefs community grow and turn into something really special has been a big part of that.